AKG K77 mod

After repairing the cable on the K77's a friend gave me ( it was broken a couple a mm before the plug so I just replaced the plug ) I decided I have to do something about the sound ( they sounded like all entry-level AKG's : plastiky , to much highs , some sibilance , an overall crappy sound ). The obvious solution was to dampen the walls and the baffle ( I could have opened them up , but I didn't know if it would improve anything and it's a ,,no return"solution ) so I used blue-tack on the back and 2 mm cork on the baffle . The results are amazing : the plastic sound is gone , no more sibilance , the highs are at an acceptable level and even the bass sounds better. It took me a couple of hours ( and a couple of sore fingers from stretching the blue-tack ) but the results are well worth-it.

kudos to you, I've always been curious about the entry-level AKG's even after hearing some not-so-good things about them on the forum. Seems like you've found a way to make them more acceptable. How do they stack up against other headphones you've listened to?

Just peel off very gently the ear-pads ( they are glued to the baffle ) , and you will find 5 screws under a layer of "sticky stuff" ( glue ) . I suggest protecting the glue from dust and re-assembling the headphones only after all the modifications are complete ( I also replaced the cable with a diy one - braided 24 awg speaker cable and 1/4'' jack plug - ) .

When I got my AKG K77, I liked it quite a bit for the price. I looked past the plasticky sound, and the congested low mid-range of 200hz to 450hz. I ended up eq'ing some of this out at times. I tried this “raindog1975” mod very recently, with mixed results. First of all, let me give me a background of my "audiophile" experience. It's NOTHING compared to some of you guys. I have a AKG 240 studio version, actually its my brothers, which is the lower ohm age version and I think it sounds just great, other than the fact that when mixing tracks, it tends to make the snare disappear. Yes I know mixing on headphones is a big no-no. Especially when we have mid level 8" KRK monitors that can be used. I also used to have an old 50$ pair of Panasonic headphones that at the time, 12-13, I thought they were pretty good. I have also had various cheapo headphones and ear buds. Now on to the AKG K77.

I was bought these headphones for Christmas from my brother. I actually liked them stock a decent amount. As for as 50$ headphones, I thought/think they are very good. I came across the raindog1975mod: http://www.head-fi.org/t/540745/akg-k77-mod and decided to give it a go since it seemed SOMEWHAT reversible. (The mod consists of putting a type of moldable putty to act as a sound dampen behind the speaker on the inside of the plastic cup where there sound waves bounce off, and putting cork on the speaker baffle.) So I went out, bought the supplies, and had at it. When I was done, it sounded atrocious. There was this HORRIBLE distortion that was overwhelming. Also the midrange and vocals were severely diminished and sounded like garbage.

So, what I did, was take off all the cork, and put it back together, still with the sound dampening on the inside of the plastic cup behind the speaker... And now it sounds GREAT! All of that resonance between 200hz and 450hz is severely diminished. The 'plasticky' sound and harshness in the midrange because of it, it much, MUCH better.

I don't know know if "raindog1975" used a drastically differently kind of cork that sounded different... it definitely LOOKED different, but the horrible distortion caused by my cork was UNBEARABLE.

The result of my ‘modified’ mod has definitely been worth it. I’m not going to try and say its as good as some expensive headphone, but for 50$, a bit of work, and some sticky tack type material, it DEFINITELY has become very very usable.

EDIT: I apologize for bringing up such an old topic. I just was excited at how much better my headphones sounded!

I used this thicker electrical tape stuff made of rubber instead of the blue tack, but i haven't touched the baffle yet, and so far they sound great compared to what they used to sound like. The bass seems richer, vocals sound nice and crisp and i don't get any more of the plasticy rattling sound when i turn the volume up nice and loud.